Scores arrested over Pakistan KFC attacks, sparked by Gaza war protests
Police have arrested scores of people in Pakistan in recent weeks after more than 10 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC, sparked by anti-United States sentiment and opposition to its ally Israel's war in Gaza, officials said.
Police in major cities in the Islamic nation, including the southern port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital Islamabad, confirmed at least 11 incidents in which KFC outlets were attacked by protesters armed with sticks and vandalized. At least 178 people were arrested, the officials said this week.
KFC and its parent Yum Brands, both US-based, did not respond to requests for comment.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one KFC employee was shot and killed this week in a store on the outskirts of Lahore by unknown gunmen. The official added there was no protest at the time and they were investigating whether the killing was motivated by political sentiment or some other reason.
In Lahore, police said they were ramping up security at 27 KFC outlets around the city after two attacks took place and five others were prevented.
'We are investigating the role of different individuals and groups in these attacks,' said Faisal Kamran, a senior Lahore police officer, adding that 11 people, including a member of the Islamist religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), were arrested in the city. He added the protests were not officially organized by TLP.
TLP spokesman Rehan Mohsin Khan said the group 'has urged Muslims to boycott Israeli products, but it has not given any call for protest outside KFC.'
'If any other person claiming to be a TLP leader or activist has indulged in such activity, it should be taken as his personal act which has nothing to do with the party's policy,' said Khan.
KFC has long been viewed as a symbol of the United States in Pakistan and borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment in recent decades with protests and attacks.
Western brands have been hit by boycotts and other forms of protests in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries in recent months over Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
Yum Brands has said one of its other brands, Pizza Hut, has faced a protracted impact from boycotts related to Israel's war in Gaza.
In Pakistan, local brands have made inroads into its fast-growing cola market as some consumers avoid US brands. In 2023, Coca-Cola's market share in the consumer sector in Pakistan fell to 5.7% from 6.3% in 2022, according to GlobalData, while PepsiCo's fell to 10.4% from 10.8%.
Earlier this month, religious clerics in Pakistan called for a boycott of any products or brands that they say support Israel or the American economy, but asked people to stay peaceful and not destroy property.
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Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
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"Horrifying. LA shop owner attacked and tased by lawless rioters who destroy his store during LA's anti-American sovereignty riots," says a June 8, 2025 post on X. The post comes from Brandon Straka, one of more than 1,500 people who was convicted in relation to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and later pardoned by President Donald Trump. Similar posts spread across X amid several days of protests that Los Angeles officials said were initially peaceful but punctuated by scattered violence, with demonstrators torching cars and security forces firing tear gas. The tensions in Los Angeles, home to a large Latino population, were triggered by raids and dozens of arrests of what authorities say are undocumented migrants and gang members. They continued to escalate over several days, with Trump clashing with California leaders as he went over their heads to deploy the state's National Guard and active-duty US Marines to the city. The upheaval has seen some stores ransacked, according to local media reports and the Los Angeles Police Department, which urged downtown businesses and residents in a June 9 post on X to report any vandalism, damage or looting they observed (archived here and here). But the video shared by Straka and others online is several months old and unrelated to the anti-deportation protests. A reverse image search surfaced the same video in local news articles and posts dated to October 2024 (archived here, here and here). Those reports, and others covering the incident, described a street takeover during the early morning hours of October 6 in which a mob of people violently pushed their way inside a 7-Eleven in Anaheim and pillaged it, assaulting the clerk who tried to keep them out in the process (archived here). The video was credited to an Instagram user, "@carlos_kickback_3" (archived here). AFP reached out to the account for a comment, but no response was forthcoming. According to reports, the incident took place at a 7-Eleven on Knott Avenue in Anaheim (archived here). Geolocation of the footage confirms the location (archived here). The location is several miles away from the complex of federal and municipal buildings near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where the protests have centered -- and also from other protest sites in Paramount and Compton. AFP has debunked other misinformation about the tumult in Los Angeles here.
